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Tko Files Law Suit Against Ivan Menjivar

According to TKO President Stephane Patry, TKO MMA has begun legal procedures against top-ranked Canadian fighter Ivan "The Pride of El Salvador" Menjivar for allegedly breaching his contract with the organization. Menjivar had been slated to fight Team Tompkins representative and UFC veteran Mark Hominick at TKO 27 on September 29th, but withdrew from the fight several days prior. Menjivar then competed in the semifinals of K-1 Hero’s lightweight tournament on October 9th, where the El Salvador native lost to Japanese star Caol Uno by unanimous decision.

"Honestly there’s not much I can say," says Patry in regards to the lawsuit with Menjivar, a fighter whose career Patry was also managing. "He was supposed to fight Hominick on the 29th, he even showed up for the photo shoot, the press conference, even the pre-fight video taping. Then eight days before, he backs out saying that he wasn’t ready for Hominick’s stand up. We weren’t happy about it but I tried to understand, then he says the next day that he can’t fight because of his fight in K-1 and that he never wanted to do both fights. He did interviews blaming me, trying to make it look like it was our fault that the fight with Hominick didn’t happen. The suit isn’t about the money we lost because the fight was off, I don’t care about that. It’s so that people know what really happened."

According to Patry, it was Menjivar who wanted to pursue both fights against Hominick and Uno despite the fact they were scheduled to be only 10 days apart.

"He insisted that he wanted to do both fights because of the money," Patry tells FCF. "I asked him again and again if he was sure this is what he wanted to do, he said yes, that it was good money. K-1 agreed to it if I found a replacement for Ivan in case he got hurt or cut badly against Mark. This will all come out in court, but we had a replacement for Ivan in K-1, Urijah Faber would replace him if it was needed. Then I went to Tri-Star to watch Ivan train and he told me he wasn’t ready for Hominick."

The TKO president maintains that there was no conflict of interest between his duties as a promoter and representing Menjivar as his manager. Patry, as well as a few other Canadian promoters, also manages several fighters. Menjivar is scheduled to fight Bart Palaszewski this Thursday, November 2nd at the IFL’s semi-finals event in Portland, Oregon. In light of the current legal and contractual issues looming between Menjivar and his manager Patry, speculation continues as to whether or not "The Pride of El Salvador" will be able to compete.

"I did talk to Kurt Otto," says Patry in regards to Menjivar’s contract and competing in the IFL. "But we haven’t come to an agreement yet that will allow Ivan to fight. As the promoter of TKO I never managed him in his TKO fights, only internationally speaking. When I asked him about fighting Hominick for TKO I could have asked him to do it for $500, but I didn’t, I just asked him how much money he wanted, he said how much, and that was that. There was no conflict."

International Fight League President Kurt Otto confirmed to FCF that he has spoken with Stephane Patry, and that Dragon coaches Carlos Newton and Terry Riggs are reviewing the situation.

"He called me once," Otto says in referring to Patry. "I told him that I haven’t even seen the contract and that Terry Riggs and Carlos Newton were looking into it. They seemed to think it was okay because this would be considered an international fight, but if Ivan can’t legally compete in the IFL then he won’t."

Riggs then informed FCF that Menjivar should be competing in the IFL semi-finals event this weekend.

"Carlos and I haven’t seen his contract either," says Riggs in regards to Menjivar’s much discussed contract. "Ivan explained to me that he had an exclusive in Quebec but that he is allowed to fight elsewhere internationally. The most important thing though, is that I’m really happy the Dragon’s have a lightweight of his caliber."

FCF reached Menjivar in Portland as he continues to prepare for his fight this weekend as a member of the Toronto Dragons. When asked about the lawsuit and his current status with Patry, Menjivar had this to say:

"I haven’t really spoken with Stephane about this," says Menjivar. "I just got back from K-1 and have been training so I don’t have anything to say about it."

Menjivar, whose record now stands at 20-6, will take on Silverback lightweight Bart Palaszewski, the Miletich fighter who has also amassed a rather credible record, coming into this fight at 23-7.

"I’m just going to try to win the match," Menjivar says in evaluating his opponent. "I’m fighting for the team now so I just want to get points, win the fight and help my team make it to the finals. I just don’t want to get injured."

Menjivar was approached by the team’s Head Coach Carlos Newton to take over the Dragon’s lightweight roster spot, and although Menjivar has not as of yet had time to train with his new teammates, he’s excited to be a member.

"No, not yet," says Menjivar in regards to training with the Dragons. "I’ve been doing my training still at Tri-Star. The difference is that I still need to be able to train with guys my size, I’m small, even 155 is not my real weight class, 145 is so I can’t train with the big guys as much. After this fight though. Carlos Newton is very good with the jiu-jitsu, Brent [Beauparlant] is a very good wrestler — I’m looking forward to it."

Ultimate Cage Wars "War Zone": Pariseau Defeats Popov in Main Event

Winnipeg, Manitoba, hosted the Ultimate Cage Wars "War Zone" event last Saturday on October 28th, marking the fifth time the promotion has held a card in Winnipeg, a city that is quickly becoming noted for its MMA community. "Warzone" featured 9 fights on the evening, which included athletes from all over the country, including several home grown fighters from the Manitoba city. One of the cities’ favorite adopted sons, Russian native Alex Popov, took on lightweight Dave Pariseau in the night’s main event. Popov, who trains under local fighter and instructor Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Curtis Brigham, had gone undefeated in his first 4 MMA fights. In Pariseau’s last fight at TKO 27 in September, the Quebec fighter defeated Jacob Macdonald by kimura, a nice rebound victory for Pariseau, who lost to Team Tompkins’s Chris Horodecki by TKO in January. Unfortunately for many of the hometown fans that were rallying behind Popov in the night’s main event, Pariseau was able to stop his opponent with strikes for the second round TKO victory

"He was very nervous before the fight," says Pariseau’s manager Stephane Patry. "Popov beat David’s trainer Steve Claveau by armbar which is very impressive. He knew if could keep the fight standing he would be able to beat Popov, but Alex was able to get the fight to the ground. Alex pretty much went for everything against David, but he was able to avoid any submissions and did really well. Then in the second round David started to land some solid strikes, and got the win with the ground and pound."

The victory pushes the 19 year old Pariseau’s record to 5-2-1 while Popov falls to a combined pro-am record of 4-1. According to Patry, the victory is a significant win in Pariseau’s career, not only because it was a main event fight, but also because of the level of competition his fighter had to face.

"I had heard nothing but great things about Popov," Patry tells FCF. "David is only 19, so sometimes he doesn’t have the confidence he should have, so for him to beat Alex is huge. When we first signed that fight we had no indication that it was going to be the main event, so it’s great for him to get that experience. He did a good job; Jonathan Goulet also did a good job in his corner and getting him ready."

Another young fighter, Lethbridge’s 17 year old Jordan Mein, also defeated a Winnipeg fighter at "Warzone", submitting Jason Geiger with a short choke in the second round. Mein, who trains under the watchful eye of his father, fighter and Canadian Martial Arts Centre instructor Lee Mein, secured his first professional win by defeating Geiger.

"He had his back and was going for the rear-naked choke but wasn’t able to get it wrapped in," Lee Mein tells FCF in recalling his son’s victory. "I started yelling short choke, short choke, and Jordan really started to ream on it, he said he heard the jaw pop a bit, and Geiger tapped. The guy really didn’t want to stand the whole fight, so Jordan managed to sprawl a few times, stop the takedown but finally wound up on the mat. It was a back and forth fight, but Jordan looked strong the whole time."

Jordan Mein’s combined pro-am record now stands at 5-3, a remarkable feat considering that he began competing against adult fighters in both Muay Thai and MMA amateur bouts at the age of 15. The benefactor of years of martial arts training and learning not only from his father Lee but from the many other professional fighters that now train out of CMAC, Jordan is quickly beginning to garner attention.

"He handles it really well," says Lee Mein in regards to the media coverage his son is now receiving. "He knows that there are other good young fighters like him self that are out there and he also knows that there are adult fighters out there that could spank him. Jordan’s always looking to fight the best fighters and he always wants to be tested, he’s really good at setting yearly and monthly goals for himself and trying to achieve them. His next fight will probably be on December 31st at Rumble In the Cage’s "Season’s Beatings", he’s been dropping names of pretty tough guys already that he wants to fight."

Mein’s teammate, Justin Tavernini, also was victorious for CMAC at UCW’S "Warzone", submitting Grant Tennant with a first round triangle choke.

Apex and Championship Fighting Series Announce Partnership and Television Deal

In a press release this week, Apex Entertainment and the Championship Fighting Series announced that the two MMA promotions will be organizing together to create Hardcore Championship Fighting. The release also further states, that the new promotion has singed a broadcasting deal with "The Score" sports network in Canada, that will televise 52 episodes of the promotion’s MMA action, set to begin November 15th. The first five episodes will contain fights taped from Apex’s last card, "A Night of Champions" which occurred on October 14th. The decision by "The Score" to include MMA programming means that now all three of Canada’s major sports networks, "The Sports Network", "Canada Sports Net" and "The Score" are now broadcasting MMA.

From the event’s promoter:

INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE (IFL) NAMES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
IAN FREEMAN AS COACH OF BRITISH TEAM FOR 2008Expansion into Europe for world’s first Mixed Martial Arts league begins in the United Kingdom

NEW YORK, November 1, 2006 – The International Fight League (IFL) today announced the beginning of expansion into Europe by naming world champion Ian Freeman as the coach of the IFL’s English team, which will begin participation in the IFL in 2008. The English team will begin training and participating in IFL activities later this year.

"We are very excited that Ian Freeman has decided to become the first of what we expect to be several IFL entries from various countries in the next few years," said IFL co-founder and commissioner Kurt Otto. "The United Kingdom has fervent support for fight sports in general and is a growing hotbed for MMA, and we are proud to be able to begin to establish our European base with Ian and his athletes."

"Being a part of the team concept that the IFL has put together is an honor for me," Freeman said. "The UK is the perfect starting point for the league in Europe, and I am looking forward to working with, and competing against, some of the sports greatest legends as well as training many of its future stars."

A former boxer, "The Iron Ambassador," is arguably one of the most popular figures in the fight game in Europe. He began his MMA career training with world champions (and now fellow IFL coaches) Renzo Gracie and Marco Ruas and competed in amateur vale tudo before turning pro in 1999. He steadily gained notoriety, eventually taking the UFC title over Frank Mir in front of a record British crowd at Royal Albert Hall in July 2002. Freeman has trained, coached and competed in various organizations over the past few years, most recently taking the British Light Heavyweight title from Mark Epstein in September 30, 2006.

posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm

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